How Does Brutus Use Ethos In Julius Caesar

“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” Is a famous quote about manipulation that relates to the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. The events of the play are based around the murder of Julius Caesar and the aftermath of it. In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar manipulation appears in the form of the three rhetorical devices ethos, pathos and logos that highly influence the text by helping develop the theme of deception. Manipulation is displayed by Cassius at the beginning of the play. Cassius uses ethos to try to convince Brutus to join his cause. He

Brutus uses ethos by doubting Caesar’s moral character. The text says “He would be crowned. How that might change his nature, there’s the question.” (II.i.13-15) This shows that Brutus believes that being crowned emperor might change Caesar’s moral character. The text says “And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg—Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous—And kill him in the shell.” (II.i.33-35) Brutus compares Caesar to a snake egg. He argues that it's logical to kill the snake egg before it hatches and turns dangerous, the same should apply to Caesar. Although he is not dangerous at the moment he will be dangerous in the future so is better to kill him before he does any

After Brutus’ speech the common people support Brutus and agree that Caesar was ambitious and deserved to die. He claims that his intention is not to praise Caesar, but to bury him and that Brutus and the other conspirators are honorable men and hge doesn’t want to offend them. He refers to Caesar as his friend who was loyal and fair to him. He points out that Brutus says that Caesar was ambitious and Brutus is an honorable man so it must be true. Afterwards, he tells the people of how Caesar was offered to be crowned three times and refused. The text says “You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,And, sure, he is an honorable man.” (III.ii.94-98) Brutus uses ethos to question the morality of Brutus by giving evidence of Caesar not being being ambitious and saying that Brutus calls Caesar ambitious and he is an honorable man. This makes the common people doubt Brutus morals and credibility. Antony uses logos to convince the common people that Caesar could not be ambitious and to get them to question Brutus’ integrity and credibility. He tells the people about Caesar's will and that everybody in Rome is in his will. He tells them that Caesar left each citizen of Rome 75 drachmas and left his private gardens for all the citizens to stroll in and relax. The text says “Here is the will, and under Caesar’s seal